We lived in Belgium in the 1970s. Dad, Eric Hayles was working for Volvo Europa at Oostakker near Ghent and we moved into a house in the Verlorenbroodstraat in Merelbeke. We hope you enjoy our evocative photos of life in Merelbeke, a suburb of Ghent.
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We lived near the beautiful city of Ghent (Gent) in Belgium in East Flanders (Oost Vlaanderen) from 1974 till 1978, although dad was there for about another six years after that. We hope you enjoy some of our photo archive from those happy times.
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Some of our wonderful neighbours and friends when we lived in Merelbeke. If you know any names that we haven't mentioned, please add them below the photo.
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We attended church at the Evangelisch Centruum, Burgstraat, Gent, where we got to know the wonderful Davies family from Wales (the clue was in the name!) Charles and Betty, Godfrey, Joseph and Noel. There were also two sisters who weren't in Belgium. Charles was an accomplished artists and signwriter. He once had a job painting the Coca Cola logo on lorries, so he must have been very good! He also painted a sign for our neighbours opposite which read "Bobinage van motoren".
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In the 1990s, along came the internet. Jonathan put "Merelbeke" into a search engine to see what he would see, and stumbled across the website of Sint-Michielsschool. After writing a greeting in the guest book he received a reply from Guy van Heddegem, and a friendship developed which led to Jonathan visiting Merelbeke in 1998 and writing a song which was performed at the school's Eindejaarshow. He visited again the following year. Here are some pictures from those shows.... we hope to bring you some video clips in the future too. Photos mostly by Jonathan Hayles, captions by Guy van Heddegem.
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GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/42879 viewsDec 05, 2017
GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/42807 viewsDec 05, 2017
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GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4331 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017
Cards at Number 31466 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele463 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried's mother in Moortsele460 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele473 viewsOct 27, 2014
Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 1978747 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa459 viewsOct 27, 2014
Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly463 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa451 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ghent by night by Eric Hayles503 viewsEarly 1980s
Patrick Meersschaut and friend359 views
Visit to The Atomium Brussels 1975238 views
Foundations of Number 31481 views
Visitors to Number 31380 views
De Kouter Gent 1975561 views
Dad leaves for work in his brand new Volkswagen Transporter minibus654 views
Sint-Michielsschool 1999358 views
Michael and Wilfried494 views
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Don Pepe Merelbeke 1977 from a post card883 views2 comments
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